1 Kings chapter 20. I'll bring
a message from verse 31. 1 Kings 20 verse 31 down to verse
34. And I'm entitling the message
from the story that we just read in this chapter. The story of
wicked, a wicked man, a pagan king, a Gentile. named Ben-Hadad, seeking mercy
at the king of Israel, Ahab. Ben-Hadad and Ahab. And I'm entitling the message,
An Encouragement for Sinners. An Encouragement for Sinners. Now salvation is for sinners.
I can find some sinners, I've got some encouragement. Salvation
is for sinners. Now all the word of God is given
unto us to teach us and reveal unto us the gospel of Christ. That's what the word is all about.
John chapter 20 says, these things are written that you might believe
that Jesus is the Christ. Remember? And this verse we've
quoted many times through our study in first and second Samuel,
first King. For whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patient
and comfort of the Scriptures, the Scriptures might have hope,
hope. Any hope we have of salvation
from our guilt and sin apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, apart from His saving mercy and His fetching
grace, any hope we have apart from Christ is a False hope,
right? False hope. 2 Thessalonians tells us now,
our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our father who had
loved us and given us an everlasting consolation and a good hope,
a good hope through grace. A good hope through grace. We
believe through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall
be saved even as others, right? Paul said, for as much as you
know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. That's a good hope we have in
Christ, isn't it? Now this man, Ben-Hadad, is a
pagan Gentile king, the king of Syria, as it says there in
the first part of this chapter. Ben-Hadad, the king of Syria,
gathered all his host together to wage war against Ahab and
Israel. This man, Ben-Hadad, was a wicked
man, a boastful man. He was determined to wage a devastating
war and to smash Israel to a dust, a handful of dust. So full of
arrogant, sinful pride, isn't he? He's a picture of us, isn't
he? what we are by nature, full of
sin, full of arrogance, full of pride, full of self-righteousness. He sent messengers unto Ahab,
king of Israel, saying, all that you have, your gold, your silver,
your wives, your children, everything you have, now it's mine. At first Ahab was going to raise
the white flag and totally and unconditionally surrender. Whatever
you have, take it. First, he wasn't even going to
put up a fight. When he told the elders of Israel about what
they said, down in verse 7 and 8, the elders, verse 8, the elders
and the people said unto him, hearken not unto him, don't surrender
unto him, do not consent unto him. Well, when Ben-Hadad heard
of the resistance of Ahab, He was in a rage. He was angry. Verse 12, it came to pass when
Ben-Hadad heard this message, as he was drinking, he and the
kings of the pavilions, he said unto his servants, set yourselves
in a ray. And they set themselves in a
rage, in a ray against the city. The Lord in great mercy, verse
13, 14. The Lord in great mercy sent
a prophet unto Ahab, the king of Israel. Thus said the Lord,
Hast thou seen all this great multitude? Behold, I will deliver
it into thy hand, and this day you're going to know that I am
the Lord. The Lord in great mercy to the
house of Ahab. Boy, he didn't deserve mercy,
did he? He didn't deserve to be spared. Israel didn't either.
Remember, they had forsaken the Lord, started worshiping Baal. God is so longsuffering in His
grace. God is going to give those people
the victory. He said, I'm going to give the
victory into your hand. I will deliver it into thy hand
this day, and you're going to know that I am the Lord. God said it. And that settled
it, didn't it? Israel won the first battle in
the hills. Look at verse 20. So these young
men of the princes of the province came out of the city, and the
army which followed them, and they slew every one his man.
And the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them. And Ben-Hadad,
the king of Syria, escaped on a horse with the horsemen. And
the king of Israel went out and smoked the horses and chariots
and slew the Syrians with a great slaughter. God said he was going
to give them the victory, didn't he? Did he? Absolutely. The Syrian army regrouped and
returned at the end of the year, as it says in verse 22, the prophet
came to the king of Israel and said unto him, go strengthen
thyself, mark and see what thou doest, for at the return of the
year, the king of Syria will come up against thee. The servants
of the king of Syria said unto him, well, their gods are the
god of the hills. Therefore, they were stronger than we. Let
us fight in the plain, and surely we'll be stronger. You see, the
problem is it's just what we're fighting. Their god, he's on
the hill. Our god, down in the valley.
We'll fight in the valley, and we're going to win. Well, what
happened? The Syrians were defeated again.
100,000 men were killed. Because in verse 28, there came
a man of God, and he spake unto the king of Israel, and said,
Thus saith the Lord, because the Syrians have said, The Lord
is God of the hills, but He is not the God of the valleys. Therefore
will I deliver all this great multitude in thy hand, and thou
shalt know that I am the Lord. And they pitched over one against
the other seven days and it was so that in the seventh day the
battle was joined and the children of Israel slew of the Syrians
100,000 foot men in one day. That's a great slaughter, isn't
it? I can't even imagine that. 27,000
escaped into the city and took refuge by a wall and God dropped
a wall on them. 27,000 more died. Ben-Hadad, he's in trouble now,
isn't he? Ben-Hadad, the last part of verse
30, fled and came into the inner city, into the, came into the
city, into the inner chamber. I mean, he's taken refuge to
hide. He's a scared man, running like
a scared rabbit. He sees the Lord our God rules
everywhere, doesn't He? In the hills, in the valleys,
in the plains, it says in Psalm 135, in the seas and all deep
places, God is God of all the earth. He rules and does according
to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
this earth and none can stay His hand or say unto Him, Lord
God, What doest thou? Ben-Hadad fled into the city
and hid himself in the inner chamber. One preacher said he hid himself
in the toilet. He went to the toilet thinking
nobody's going to come looking for me in the toilet. He goes
into the inner chamber, into the toilet, seeking to save his
life. His army devastated. His boastful
pride shattered. He's a desperate man. He shrinks
and trembles in the corner, hiding from Ahab and Ahab's army. No longer is he saying, you're
gold, you're silver, it's all mine. You're children, you're
wives, it's all mine. Now this man's desperate, isn't
he? You see his desperate condition? He's so desperate. Now, three
things. The first thing I want to look
at is Mercy's report. mercy's report. Verse 31, and his servants said
unto him, behold, now we've heard that the kings of the house of
Israel are merciful kings. Now I think that must be referring
back to David and Solomon. and maybe others. Let us, I pray
thee, put on sackcloth on our loins and let's put ropes around
our neck and let's go out to the King of Israel and peradventure,
maybe it could be possible that He'll show mercy, that He'll
save our life. Now you get the picture here?
There sits proud Ben-Hadad, now broken, humbled, beaten, subdued,
at the end of his rope. He's got nowhere to turn. His
servants now approach him and declare unto him, you know, we've
heard something about the kings of Israel, but they're merciful
people. So the suggestion is, let us
humbly approach the king as mercy beggars, and peradventure, or
perhaps, or maybe, maybe, he'll show mercy. Now here's the gospel. You see the gospel here? Here's
the gospel message. The servants of God are sent
to declare, God delights to show mercy to undeserving sinners. We have heard. We have heard. that God, who is the King of
all the earth, and the Lord Jesus Christ, He is King of kings and
Lord of lords, He delights to show mercy. That ought to be
an encouragement for every sinner to seek mercy in Christ. We read this in Micah 5.18, Who
is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity, that passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth
not his anger forever, You know why? Because He delights in mercy. God delighteth in mercy. Now,
what do we know about the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ? With
the Lord there is mercy. He delights to show mercy. Psalm
130 says this, Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord
there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption. With the Lord. Talking about
the God of all the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior,
with Him there is mercy. It is the essential attribute
of our great God. One part of His divine nature,
of His character, He must show mercy. He can never cease to
show mercy, no more than He can cease to be God. God must show mercy. He said,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, but I will have mercy. There is mercy with the Lord.
Secondly, His mercies are called tender mercies. You remember
what David prayed? Have mercy upon me, O God, according
to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of Thy tender
mercies. Blot out my sin. You see, the
Lord is gracious as He deals with us in His tender mercy through
Christ Jesus. And He does so in such a way,
He deals with His people in such a way that He not only honors
His mercy, but He also honors His holiness. He also honors
His justice. You remember the psalm, mercy
and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other
in Christ and Him crucified. It's the only way in Christ in
Him crucified can God be just and justify the ungodly and show
mercy without the expense of His holiness. His tender mercy. Thirdly, we know His mercies
are great mercy. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. It's not
by works of righteousness which we've done, but according to
His mercy He saved us. Great mercy is reserved for Great
sinners. There is nothing little in our
great God, is there? Everything about Him is great.
He is our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. His mercy is like
Himself, infinite. You cannot measure His mercy. You cannot measure His love,
His grace. Bunyan said, oh John Bunyan,
Spent 12 years in prison because he would not deny the gospel
of God's grace. He said, it must be great mercy
or no mercy. It must be great mercy or no
mercy. For little mercy, he said, would never save me. I need great
mercy because I'm a great sinner. Thank God he's able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God by him, saying he ever lived
to make intercession for us. Something else about the Lord's
mercy, that verse that I quote all the time in Ephesians chapter
2, the Lord is rich in mercy, isn't He? But God who is rich
in mercy for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were
dead in sin, hath quickened us together in Christ Jesus. His
mercy is abounding mercy. His mercy is manifold mercy.
Someone said manifold mercy can be called many fold mercy. Superbounding mercy. His giving
mercy to sinners does not impoverish him because he is rich in mercy. Illustrate it this way. You can
take a million cups of water, go to the beach, and take a cup
or a quart or a gallon or a bucket and start bailing the ocean.
Bail out a million buckets. You going to drain it? No. It's
still full, isn't it? That's the way God's mercy is.
You can't exhaust it. And His mercies are manifold
mercies, many-fold mercies. Mercies of redemption through
His blood. We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ,
in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of
sin, according to the riches of His grace. Mercies of pardon from all sin. O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for
it is great, and pardon it for Thy name's sake. Mercies of reconciliation
through the Lord Jesus Christ. He made peace with God through
His blood, having reconciled us unto God. You see, these are
manifold mercies, aren't they? He's given us an everlasting
righteousness in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
has shown mercy to millions of sinners. But the storehouse is
still full. One songwriter, remember this
song? Depth of mercy can there be? Mercy there reserved for
me. Can my God his wrath forbear?
And me the chief of sinners spare? Would God show mercy to me, thee
sinner? Oh yeah. He is rich in mercy. Yes, it is abundant mercy. Yes, it is manifold mercy. Yes,
it is everlasting mercy. Yes, it is abiding mercy. He said, I'll never leave you.
I'll never forsake you. And I like this last point on
this first point. His mercy is free. Free. Free mercy. Free mercy. Remember what Jacob said, I'm
not worthy of the least of thy mercies? We can't merit mercy. If we could merit or earn mercy,
it wouldn't be mercy, would it? It's mercy. Ben-Hadad did not
deserve mercy, did he? But you know what? Ahab showed
mercy. It's free mercy, justified freely by His grace. His mercy
flows to us freely through Christ. Wants no price, no money, no
works, no merit. Free as the sunshine. How much
have you paid for the sunshine? I haven't paid any. Free as the
sunshine, His mercy, His grace. Free as the rain that falls.
How many paychecks have you written for the rain? Free as the wind that blows.
Have you ever paid for the wind? Free as the air you breathe. Free, free. God who spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall they
not with him also freely, freely, freely. I love that word, don't
you? Freely give them all things. In the book of Hosea, God said,
I love them freely, freely. His mercies are also sure mercies,
they're covenant mercies, ordered in all things and sure. You see,
we have heard, But back to the text again, we have heard that
the kings of Israel, the house of Israel are merciful kings. You ever heard that? God is merciful, isn't he? This
is mercy's report. Oh, that I could tell it better.
Oh, may God open our ears and our hearts to hear mercy's report
and believe it. We have heard that the Lord is
merciful. And every believer has experienced in his heart,
the Lord is merciful. Have you not? The second thing is this, miseries
resolve, verse 32. So they girded on sackcloth on
their loins, and they put ropes on their heads, and I take that
to mean they put the hangman's noose around their neck, and
they went before the king, and they said, Thy servant Ben-Hadad
saith, I pray thee, I beg thee, let me live. Would you just let
me live? What's he asking for? Mercy,
isn't he? Would you show mercy to me? And
Ahab saith, is he yet alive? He ought to be dead. His army's
dead. He ought to be dead. Is he yet
alive? And then, he's my brother. What? He's my brother. Why did he say that wicked man,
my enemy, I'm going to kill him? You see, he showed mercy for
one reason. so we could preach the gospel
of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the only reason
he does it. It's the gospel. Mercy is resolved. The servants
of Ben-Hadad, they put on sackcloth of shame. They put a rope upon
their neck declaring that they're guilty. That's what they're declaring,
isn't it? Showing remorse, sackcloth, repentance. Guilty. And they
approached the king as not proud, arrogant, mercy beggars. They
approached the king as guilty. I pray thee, I beg thee. Ben-Hadad
said, would you let me live? Ben-Hadad is stripped in the
dust. He's broken. He's bankrupt. He's guilty. He's sinful. And he knows it.
He knows he doesn't deserve mercy. But he said to the servants,
let me live, let me live. He cries out, oh God, let me
live. You see, the point is this. This
is exactly the way to approach our merciful God, is it not?
Don't come with arrogance and your self-righteousness and your
pride. Come broken, stripped and guilty,
confessing our sin. Owning our guilt with sackcloth
of repentance and a rope of acknowledgement around our neck, if the Lord
executes me and sends me to eternal condemnation, this is exactly
what I deserve. Right? David prayed in that same
prayer in Psalm 51, Lord, if you send me to hell, I'll be
getting just exactly what I deserve. You see, the wages of sin is
death, right? It's what we deserve, right?
Do we deserve mercy? No. Now some might think, some
arrogant sinner might think, well, I'll never come that way.
I'll never confess my sin. I'll never acknowledge I deserve
to be damned. You know, I'm just not that kind
of sinner. I'm just not that bad. Still full of pride. You're too
proud. You're too proud for mercy. You're
too proud for grace. You're too proud for salvation
for salvation for sinners. Now listen to this. If you never
confess your sin, the Lord will never save you. Think about it. You remember
what we studied in 1 John 1? If we confess our sins, He's
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. If you never confess your guilt,
you'll never receive grace. If you never confess your sin,
the Lord will never show you mercy. You see the point I'm making?
Salvation is for sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. He didn't come to call the righteous
but sinners unto repentance. Brother Mahan used to always
tell us this. It's not your sinfulness that keeps you from Christ. It's your supposed goodness.
Be done with self-righteousness, self-glory, and come to Christ
just as you are. In your filth, in your guilt,
in your rags, don't dress up and don't clean up. The leper
came to the Lord Jesus Christ and worshipped him. He didn't
try to go around and disguise himself that he wasn't a leper.
He came to the Lord Jesus Christ as a leper and said, Lord, if
you will, You can make me whole. And the Lord said, I will. Be
thou clean. You see, if you were a beggar
on the street, would you go down to J.C. Penney's and buy you
a $500 suit and sit out there on the corner in your brand new
suit and hold out your hand that I'm a beggar? You're what? You're
no beggar. You're a rich man. But there
you sit in your rag like blind Bartimaeus sitting in a dirty,
filthy rag on the side of the road. Lord, how son of David
hath mercy on me. And the Lord stood still. And
the Lord showed mercy, didn't he? You see in 1 Samuel chapter
2, you remember we read that the Lord Jesus Christ lifts the
beggars from the dunghill and makes them princes. The publican cried out, have
mercy on me, the sinner. And the Lord said, that man went
down to his house justified. Is this not our cry? Lord, let
me live for Christ's sake. Have mercy upon me for Christ's
sake. Have mercy upon me, the sinner.
Quicken me, oh Lord, and make me a new creature in Christ.
Isn't that our cry? You see, the gospel in the Lord
Jesus Christ is better than this word that is used here in verse
31, the last part. Let's go out to the King of Israel
and peradventure, maybe, could be, might be, He'll show mercy. No, the mercies of the Lord Jesus
Christ are certain and sure. Every promise of the gospel,
all the promises of God in Christ are yes, and in Him, and amen. Listen to some of these promises
of the gospel. Though your sin be as scarlet,
God said they shall be whiter than the snow. That's no poor
adventure, is it? No. Ho, everyone that thirsty,
come to the water. Come, you drink. Find plenty
in Christ Jesus. That's no poor adventure, is
it? You see, the promises of God are certain and sure. The
blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our
sin. That's no pure adventure. Could
be, may be, might, might happen. No, His mercies are sure and
certain in Christ Jesus. Now what's going to happen? Verse
33 and verse 34. Here's misery's reception. Look at verse 33 and 34. Now
the men did diligently observe They went with observance. What's Ahab going to do? What's
he going to say? Whether anything would come from
him. Had to come from the king, didn't
it? And they did hastily catch it. Back to the last part of verse
32. And Ahab said to the servants of Ben-Hadad, Is
he yet alive? Is he yet alive? He's my brother."
And the man observed it and hastily they caught what he said. They hastily catch it and they
said, oh, thy brother, Ben-Hadad, yeah, he's your brother. Ahab said, go ye, bring him.
Then Ben-Hadad came forth to him And He caused him to come
up into the chariot. Now, misery's reception. Be sure we understand this. The
Lord of glory never turned a mercy beggar away. Those who came to
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, recorded in Scripture, were received
and made whole. Those who asked for mercy, received
mercy. I never read one time where the
Lord Jesus Christ truly sent a mercy beggar away. He dealed
harshly with the Pharisees. Amazing words that come from
Ahab here in the last part of verse 32. Is he yet alive? He's my brother. Now what a word
of hope. This is what these servants were
waiting to hear. Is Ben-Hadad yet alive? He should
be dead. He should be dead with the rest
of his army. This is what Ben-Hadad deserved. He should be alive.
He should be dead, right? Sinner, are you yet alive? Those who have shunned the gospel
of Christ, ridiculed the grace of God, are you yet alive? You don't deserve to be, do you?
Unrepentant sinners. Are you yet alive? And then he
says, he's my brother. And here's something I can't
explain, other than in God's good providence it came to pass
that we might preach the gospel. Ben-Hadad vowed to destroy Ahab's
family and his kingdom, didn't he? He said, I'm going to crush
you like the dust in my hand. I'm going to take all your silver,
your gold, your children, your wives, everything you have. I'm
going to have it. Take it. Mine. It's mine. He
was Ahab's sworn enemy to all of Israel. to wage war against
it. And now Ahab says in a very merciful
way, is he yet alive? He's my brother. How can this
be? But is not this the message of
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? For we read in scripture
in Romans 5, while we were yet sinners, enemies, Christ died
for us. He's my brother. My brother. Remember we studied in 1 John
3, Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called sons of God? God commended His
love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Is not this amazing grace, how
sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me? One time without God,
without hope, and without Christ, now we're the household of God,
no more strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and
of the household of God. We've been made heirs of grace
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an inheritance
that's incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. You remember
in Hebrews chapter 2, where it says, He's not ashamed to call
them the Lord Jesus. He's not ashamed to call them
brethren. This is the gospel, is it not?
Adopted into His family and accepted in the Beloved. The servants catch that word,
verse 33, and they said, yeah, you're right. Ben, hey dad, he's
your brother. That's something, isn't it? Yes,
he is. Go bring him. Look what he says. And he said, Ben, this is the
king Ahab, go ye bring him. Don't invite him, bring him.
Then Ben-Hadad came forth to him, and he caused him to come
up into the chariot. Go bring him. Ahab called him
to come up into his chariot. Let his enemy ride with the king. You know what I see here? Here's the Lord's fetching mercy,
isn't it? Go get him, bring him. He's a captain of our salvation
who's bringing many sons unto glory. Christ suffered once for
our sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us unto God. You remember the story of Mephibosheth? Because of that covenant mercy
with David and Jonathan. Remember, He said, go get him
and fetch him, that I might show kindness unto him, that I might
show mercy unto him. The Lord of glory receives us
to Himself in His royal chariot of mercy, love, and grace, showers
and blesses us abundantly for Christ's sake, doesn't He? He's
forgiven us for Christ's sake. Verse 34 and closing. And Ben-Hadad
said unto him, and rather it's rendered, Ahab said to Ben-Hadad,
the cities which my father took from thy father I'm going to
restore. And thou shalt make streets for
thee in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab,
I will send thee away with this covenant, So he made a covenant
with him and sent him away. He set him free. He set him free. Ahab made a covenant with Ben-Hadad. And Ben-Hadad went away a free
man. Not locked up in chains and put
in a dungeon. But he set him free to go home.
He was set at liberty because of this covenant. Isn't that
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? The God of peace that
brought again from the dead that great shepherd of the sheep to
the blood of the everlasting covenant. Stand fast therefore
in liberty with Christ to set us free. Remember in Luke chapter
4, the Lord said He's come to set the prisoner free. That's
the gospel, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
surety of the covenant. He's the sacrifice of the covenant.
David said, this is all my hope and all my salvation. Although
it be not so with my house, God hath made with me in the Lord
Jesus Christ an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and is
sure. I bet old Ben-Hadad went home
encouraged, didn't he? That old King Ahab, he showed
me mercy. May every sinner here tonight
be encouraged. Encouraged. There is mercy with
the Lord. With the Lord, he is merciful. I, by his grace, take my place
before him as a mercy beggar. How about you? Let us never graduate
above being a sinner, saved by God's grace. As a mercy beggar,
I take my place before the throne of God's sovereign grace, and
look to the Lord Jesus Christ for all of salvation. For He
said, Look unto Me, and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth,
I am God, and there is no other." Now, can't you see the gospel
there? That's the gospel, isn't it?
God delights to show mercy, sovereign mercy, but he must show mercy
because our God is merciful. He is just and holy, but he is
merciful.